Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;
2023
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Mary Mother of GOD

7th_day_Afterfeast_of_Theophany.jpg

The 7th day Afterfeast of Theophany
THIS DAY IS NOW KEPT IN HONOUR OF THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
IN THE RIVER JORDAN

December 31 - Saint Maria Odigitria Church (Rome)
 - Catherine Labouré (d. 1876)
Mary's Divine Motherhood

 The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water,
and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
January 13
530  St. Remigius or Remi, Bishop of Rheims extraordinary gift of miracles
1228 BD JUTTA OF HUY, Widow an extraordinary power of reading the thoughts of others, and apparently a knowledge of distant events; she also displayed the greatest charity in directing and helping the many souls who came to consult her in her anchorage.
1228 Bl. Yvette not canonized considered a saint extraordinary charisms
1497 Blessed Veronica of Binasco (b. 1445) known as a great contemplative who also gave loving care to sick sisters in her community and ministered to the people of Milan. She had the gifts of prophecy, discernment and miracles.


January 13 – The Council of Trent declares Mary to be free from all sin (1547)
 – Our Wounded Lady (Cambrai, France)  
 
The Socialist’s Daughter 
 Mr. Jean Jaures, the famous French socialist Member of Parliament (1859-1914), was an atheist who chose a highly anticlerical teacher for the education of his daughter, to ensure that any trace of faith would be eradicated from the soul of his child.
On the evening of one of his finest oratorical successes, returning home rejoicing in his triumph, Jaures heard a light tap on the door of his office. His daughter Germaine came in. "Father, I am so happy," she said. "I came to let you know that I have set my mind on the person who will be my life’s companion."
She knelt in front of her father and confessed: "I want to give my life to God in the religious life."
For Jaures this was like a thunderbolt. He only had the strength to ask: "How long have you had this idea?" "For four years, Father. One day when I was walking with my teacher in the countryside, we found a broken cross by the roadside… I tried to put the pieces back together, but my teacher gave it a kick. I felt utterly crushed inside, and since that day, many seeds of new thoughts have grown in my soul that you didn’t plant in it."
She kissed her father’s hand, but he motioned to her to leave...
Près d’Elle – 2nd Quarter – Issue #125 Story told by Brother Albert Pfleger
In Fioretti de la Vierge Marie, Ephèse Diffusion
 

January 13 – The Council of Trent declares Mary free of all sin (1547) – Our Wounded Lady (Cambrai, France)  
 
Saved through the mercy of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sister Catherine, a nun sent to Quebec in 1647, used to prayed fervently for the sanctification of souls, but she had given up praying for a hardened sinner named Mary. Like everyone, Sister Catherine assumed that Mary was in hell. But one day the sinner appeared to her from purgatory:
"Sister Catherine, you recommend to God the souls of those who die, and here is my soul on whom you have no pity!"
"What! Are you saved?" cried Sister Catherine.

"Yes, I am saved by the mercy of the Holy Virgin. When I knew that I was dying, so full of sin, I turned to the Mother of God, and I said: ‘O Our Lady… only you can help me, have pity on me!’ The Blessed Virgin obtained for me to make an act of contrition. Then, I died and I was saved. My dear Queen also granted me the favor that the intensity of my sufferings would shorten the duration of my atonement. Now I only need a few Masses to be delivered from Purgatory."
Sister Catherine had some Masses celebrated for Mary, and a few days later, the soul appeared to her again, shining brighter than the sun. She said, "Thank you, Sister Catherine, I am going to heaven to sing of the mercies of my God and pray for you."
 Father Paul Ragueneau, S.J.Taken from: La vie de la Mère Catherine de Saint Augustin, (F. Lambert: Paris, 1671). Reprinted in Quebec City, 1923, by the Augustinian nuns.
 
Octáva Epiphaníæ Domini.
The Octave of the Epiphany of our Lord.
160+ Martyr Potitus at Naples In Sardinia, by the power of God he worked wondrous miracles; who, having suffered much under Emperor Antoninus and the governor Gelasius, was at last put to death by the sword. July 1 Orthodox.
235 St. Andrew of Trier bishop possible martyr
253-268? Romæ, via Lavicána, corónæ sanctórum mílitum quadragínta, quas ipsi, sub Galliéno Imperatóre, pro veræ fídei confessióne percípere meruérunt.
315 St. Hermylus Martyr with Stratonicus drowned-Danube Belgrade Serbia
335 St. Agrecius Bishop missionary trusted associate of St. Helena  According to the life of the saint, a docu­ment which is certainly not older than the eleventh century, and which modern scholars pronounce to be entirely fabulous
324 St. Glaphyra persecuted slave owned by Empress Constantia
337 St. Leontius of Cuesaren Bishop of Caesarea Nicaea Council participant
368 St. Hilary gentle courteous devoted writing great theology on Trinity
5th v. St. Elian ap Erbin known only through local Welsh liturgical calendars
5th v. St.  Erbin Saint of the Comish and Devonshire regions England
6th v. St. Elian Perhaps a Breton missionary
530  St. Remigius or Remi, Bishop of Rheims extraordinary gift of miracles
603 St. Kentigern Mungo {"dear one"} First bishop of Strathclyde Britons in 325
       ‘Angel of Peace”
631 St. Enogatus Bishop of Aleth Brittany France
852 St. Gumesindus priest Spanish martyr with Servus Dei a monk
927 Berno of Cluny 1st abbot of renowned of Clunymonastery OSB, Abbot

1127 BD GODFREY OF KAPPENBERG belongs to the category of those youthful saints who spent the few years of their life on earth in making preparation for Heaven.
1228 BD JUTTA OF HUY, Widow an extraordinary power of reading the thoughts of others, and apparently a knowledge of distant events; she also displayed the greatest charity in directing and helping the many souls who came to consult her in her anchorage.
1228 Bl. Yvette not canonized considered a saint extraordinary charisms
1497 Blessed Veronica of Binasco (b. 1445) known as a great contemplative who also gave loving care to sick sisters in her community and ministered to the people of Milan. She had the gifts of prophecy, discernment and miracles.
368 St. Hilary of Poitiers his Birthday: fixed names of His nature: Father Son Holy Spirit
His hymns are the first in the West with a known writer
400 St. Viventius Samaritan hermit ordination departed Palestine to Europe close associate with St. Hilary
 In Versíaco monastério, in Gállia, sancti Vivéntii Confessóris.
       In the monastery of Verzy in France, St. Viventius, confessor.
The death of Constantius in 361 ended the persecution of the orthodox Christians.
Hilary died in 367 or 368 and was proclaimed a doctor of the Church in 1851.

The Power was Accredited to Mary- Our Lady of Victory (Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1620)

Gregory of Nazianzen presided over those who maintain the consubstantiality of the Holy Trinity, and assembled them together in a little dwelling, which had been altered into the form of a house of prayer,
by those who held the same opinions and had a like form of worship.
It subsequently became one of the most conspicuous in the city, and is so now, not only for the beauty and number of its structures, but also for the advantages accruing to it from the visible manifestations of God.
For the power of God was there manifested, and was helpful both in waking visions and in dreams, often for the relief of many diseases and for those afflicted by some sudden transmutation in their affairs. The power was accredited to Mary, the Mother of God, the Holy Virgin, for she does manifest herself in this way.
Salminius Hermais Sozomen, excerpt from Church History 7:5, A.D. 444

The seventh day of the Afterfeast of Theophany.
Many of the Church's hymns during this period rejoice in the manifestation of God (Theophany) at Christ's baptism in the Jordan. The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
160+ Martyr Potitus at Naples In Sardinia, St. Potitus, martyr,  by the power of God he worked wondrous miracles; who, having suffered much under Emperor Antoninus and the governor Gelasius, was at last put to death by the sword.
       In Sardínia sancti Potíti Mártyris, qui, sub Antoníno Imperatóre et Gelásio Præside, multa passus, demum gládio martyrium consecútus est.

The Holy Martyr Potitus suffered under the emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned 138-161). Having become familiar with the Christian teaching, the young Potitus believed in the true God and accepted holy Baptism at thirteen years of age. When he learned of this, his pagan father was extremely upset and tried, first by endearments, and then by threats to dissuade his son from his faith in Christ the Savior, but his efforts were in vain. Impressed by the boy's firmness of faith, the father also came to believe in the Son of God and became a Christian himself.

St Potitus traveled through many lands preaching about Christ, and by the power of God he worked wondrous miracles.
In the region of Epiros, lived the illustrious woman Kyriake, the wife of a senator; she was afflicted with leprosy. Hearing of St Potitus, she summoned him and asked him to heal her. The saint declared that if she believed in Christ, she would be healed. The woman accepted holy Baptism and was immediately made well. Seeing such a miracle, her husband and all their household believed in Christ and were baptized as well.

After this, the saint settled on Mount Garganus and lived in solitude, among the animals. He was found there by servants of the emperor Antoninus, whose daughter was possessed by a demon. Through the lips of the maiden, the devil said that he would come out of her only if Potitus should come. They brought the holy youth to the emperor, and through the prayers of St Potitus the demon released the girl. But instead of being grateful, the emperor treated the saint with inhuman cruelty. For his firm confession of faith in Christ the Savior, and for his refusal to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, to whom the emperor imputed the healing of his daughter, he ordered that the saint's tongue be torn out, and that he be blinded. After lengthy torture, St Potitus was finally beheaded.
235 St. Andrew of Trier bishop possible martyr.
Andrew is listed as the twelfth bishop of Trier, Germany. In some accounts he suffered martyrdom.
253-268? Romæ, via Lavicána, corónæ sanctórum mílitum quadragínta, quas ipsi, sub Galliéno Imperatóre, pro veræ fídei confessióne percípere meruérunt.
       At Rome, on the Via Lavicana, the crowning of forty holy soldiers, a reward they merited by confessing the true faith under Emperor Gallienus.
 315 St. Hermylus Martyr with Stratonicus drowned in the Danube Belgrade Serbia.
 Singidóni, in Mysia superióre, sanctórum Mártyrum Hérmyli et Stratoníci, qui, post sæva torménta, sub Licínio Imperatóre, in Istrum flumen demérsi sunt.
       At Belgrade in Serbia, the holy martyrs Hermylus and Stratonicus, who were severely tormented under Emperor Licinius, and then drowned in the river Danube.
Stratonicus was the servant of Hermylus, who was a deacon.
324 St. Glaphyra persecuted slave owned by Empress Constantia.
 Amaséæ, in Ponto, sanctæ Gláphyræ Vírginis.       At Amasea in Pontus, St. Glaphyra, virgin.
Constantia wife of co-Emperor Licinius Licinianus. Glaphyra fled the royal court to protect her chastity by going to St. Basil, the bishop of Amasea, in Pontus. Captured and condemned to death, she died on the way to her execution.
337 St. Leontius of Cuesaren Bishop of Caesarea participant in Council of Nicaea in 325 ‘Angel of Peace”  
 Cæsaréæ, in Cappadócia, sancti Leóntii Epíscopi, qui, sub Licínio, advérsus Gentíles, et, sub Constantíno, advérsus Ariános plúrimum decertávit.
       At Caesarea in Cappadocia, St. Leontius, bishop, who fought strongly against the heathens in the reign of Licinius, and against the Arians in the reign of Constantine.
He was known to the Greeks by the spiritual title ‘Angel of Peace” and was much praised by St. Athanasius.
368 St. Hilary (315?-368) a gentle courteous man devoted to writing some of the greatest theology on the Trinity
 Pictávis, in Gállia, natális sancti Hilárii, Epíscopi et Confessóris; qui, ob cathólicam fidem, quam strénue propugnávit, quadriénnio apud Phrygiam relegátus, ibi, inter ália mirácula, mórtuum suscitávit.  Eum Pius Nonus, Póntifex Máximus, universális Ecclésiæ Doctórem declarávit et confirmávit.  Ipsíus autem festum sequénti die celebrátur.
       At Poitiers in France, the birthday of St. Hilary, bishop and confessor of the Catholic faith which he courageously defended, and for which he was banished for four years to Phrygia, where, among other miracles, he raised a man from the dead.  Pius IX declared him a doctor of the Church.  His festival is celebrated tomorrow.
 This staunch defender of the divinity of Christ was a gentle and courteous man, devoted to writing some of the greatest theology on the Trinity, and was like his Master in being labeled a “disturber of the peace.” In a very troubled period in the Church, his holiness was lived out in both scholarship and controversy.
Raised a pagan, he was converted to Christianity when he met his God of nature in the Scriptures. His wife was still living when he was chosen, against his will, to be the bishop of Poitiers in France. He was soon taken up with battling what became the scourge of the fourth century, Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ.

The heresy spread rapidly. St. Jerome said “The world groaned and marveled to find that it was Arian.” When Emperor Constantius ordered all the bishops of the West to sign a condemnation of Athanasius, the great defender of the faith in the East, Hilary refused and was banished from France to far off Phrygia. Eventually he was called the “Athanasius of the West.” While writing in exile, he was invited by some semi-Arians (hoping for reconciliation) to a council the emperor called to counteract the Council of Nicea. But Hilary predictably defended the Church, and when he sought public debate with the heretical bishop who had exiled him, the Arians, dreading the meeting and its outcome, pleaded with the emperor to send this troublemaker back home. Hilary was welcomed by his people.
Comment:  Christ said his coming would bring not peace but a sword (see Matthew 10:34). The Gospels offer no support for us if we fantasize about a sunlit holiness that knows no problems. Christ did not escape at the last moment, though he did live happily ever after—after a life of controversy, problems, pain and frustration. Hilary, like all saints, simply had more of the same.
368 St. Hilary of Poitiers fixed names of His nature: Father Son Holy Spirit His hymns are the first in the West with a known writer
Patron against snake bites
"They didn't know who they were." This is how Hilary summed up the problem with the Arian heretics of the fourth century.
Hilary, on the other hand, knew very well who he was -- a child of a loving God who had inherited eternal life through belief in the Son of God. He hadn't been raised as a Christian but he had felt a wonder at the gift of life and a desire to find out the meaning of that gift. He first discarded the approach of many people who around him, who believed the purpose of life was only to satisfy desires. He knew he wasn't a beast grazing in a pasture. The philosophers agreed with him.
Human beings should rise above desires and live a life of virtue, they said. But Hilary could see in his own heart that humans were meant for even more than living a good life.

If he didn't lead a virtuous life, he would suffer from guilt and be unhappy. His soul seemed to cry out that wasn't enough to justify the enormous gift of life. So Hilary went looking for the giftgiver. He was told many things about the divine -- many that we still hear today: that there were many Gods, that God didn't exist but all creation was the result of random acts of nature, that God existed but didn't really care for his creation, that God was in creatures or images. One look in his own soul told him these images of the divine were wrong. God had to be one because no creation could be as great as God. God had to be concerned with God's creation -- otherwise why create it?

At that point, Hilary tells us, he "chanced upon" the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. When he read the verse where God tells Moses "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14), Hilary said, "I was frankly amazed at such a clear definition of God, which expressed the incomprehensible knowledge of the divine nature in words most suited to human intelligence." In the Psalms and the Prophets he found descriptions of God's power, concern, and beauty. For example in Psalm 139, "Where shall I go from your spirit?", he found confirmation that God was everywhere and omnipotent.

But still he was troubled. He knew the giftgiver now, but what was he, the recipient of the gift? Was he just created for the moment to disappear at death? It only made sense to him that God's purpose in creation should be "that what did not exist began to exist, not that what had begun to exist would cease to exist."
Then he found the Gospels and read John's words including "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God..." (John 1:1-2).
From John he learned of the Son of God and how Jesus had been sent to bring eternal life to those who believed. Finally his soul was at rest. "No longer did it look upon the life of this body as troublesome or wearisome, but believed it to be what the alphabet is to children... namely, as the patient endurance of the present trials of life in order to gain a blissful eternity." He had found who he was in discovering God and God's Son Jesus Christ.

After becoming a Christian, he was elected bishop of Poitiers in what is now France by the laity and clergy. He was already married with one daughter named Apra.

Not everyone at that time had the same idea of who they were. The Arians did not believe in the divinity of Christ and the Arians had a lot of power including the support of the emperor Constantius. This resulted in many persecutions. When Hilary refused to support their condemnation of Saint Athanasius he was exiled from Poitiers to the East in 356. The Arians couldn't have had a worse plan -- for themselves.

Hilary really had known very little of the whole Arian controversy before he was banished. Perhaps he supported Athanasius simply because he didn't like their methods. But being exiled from his home and his duties gave him plenty of time to study and write. He learned everything he could about what the Arians said and what the orthodox Christians answered and then he began to write. "Although in exile we shall speak through these books, and the word of God, which cannot be bound, shall move about in freedom."
The writings of his that still exist include On the Trinity, a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, and a commentary on the Psalms. He tells us about the Trinity,

"For one to attempt to speak of God in terms more precise than he himself has used: -- to undertake such a thing is to embark upon the boundless, to dare the incomprehensible.
He fixed the names of His nature: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whatever is sought over and above this is beyond the meaning of words, beyond the limits of perception, beyond the embrace of understanding."

After three years the emperor kicked him back to Poitiers, because, we are told by Sulpicius Severus, the emperor was tired of having to deal with the troublemaker, "a sower of discord an a disturber of the Orient." But no one told Hilary he had to go straight back to his home and so he took a leisurely route through Greece and Italy, preaching against the Arians as he went.

In the East he had also heard the hymns used by Arians and orthodox Christians as propaganda. These hymns were not based on Scripture as Western hymns but full of beliefs about God. Back at home, Hilary started writing hymns of propaganda himself to spread the faith.
His hymns are the first in the West with a known writer.

Some of use may wonder at all the trouble over what may seem only words to us now. But Hilary wasn't not fighting a war of words, but a battle for the eternal life of the souls who might hear the Arians and stop believing in the Son of God, their hope of salvation.

The death of Constantius in 361 ended the persecution of the orthodox Christians.
Hilary died in 367 or 368 and was proclaimed a doctor of the Church in 1851.

In His Footsteps: In Exodus, the Prophets, and the Gospel of John, Hilary found his favorite descriptions of God and God's relationship to us. What verses of Scripture describe God best for you? If you aren't familiar with Scripture, look up the verses that Hilary found. What do they mean to you?

Prayer: Saint Hilary of Poitiers, instead of being discouraged by your exile, you used your time to study and write. Help us to bring good out of suffering and isolation in our own lives and see adversity as an opportunity to learn about or share our faith. Amen
335 St. Agrecius Bishop missionary trusted associate of St. Helena empress According to the life of the saint, a docu­ment which is certainly not older than the eleventh century, and which modern scholars pronounce to be entirely fabulous
 Tréviris sancti Agrítii Epíscopi.       At Treves, St. Agritius, bishop.
Little is documented about Agrecius (also called Agricius) in his early years. He is believed to have been patriarch of Antioch when he was named the bishop of Treves (modern Trier), Germany. Pope Sylvester I (r. 314-335) named Agrecius to this see of Treves (modern Trier), Germany at the request of St. Helena. Agrecius was also present at the Council of Arles in 314. St. Athanasius came to Treves in around 335 and found Agrecius building many new parish churches. The Relics of Trier, a collection associated with St. Helena's visit to the Holy Land and entrusted to Agrecius, are believed to date to his episcopacy. Agrecius also attracted saints and scholars to Treves or Trier. Sts. Maximus and Paulinus taught in the schools there. Agrecius served as bishop for twenty years.

329? ST AGRECIUS, BISHOP OP TRIER
THE story of St Agrecius (Agritius) has of late years acquired a certain adventitious interest owing to the discussions regarding the authenticity of the “Holy Coat of Trier”. According to the life of the saint, a docu­ment which is certainly not older than the eleventh century, and which modern scholars pronounce to be entirely fabulous, Agrecius was first of all patriarch of Antioch, and was then, at the instance of the Empress St Helen, the mother of Constantine, appointed bishop of Trier by Pope St Silvester. He found that that part of Germany, though evangelized more than two centuries before, had almost fallen back into paganism, and he set to work to build churches and to establish closer relations with the centre of Christendom. In this task he was encouraged by his patroness St Helen, who in particular obtained for him a share of the precious relics which she had been instrumental in recovering from the Holy Land. Those sent to Trier included one of the nails of the cross, the knife used at the Last Supper, the bodies of SS. Lazarus and Martha, etc., and also apparently our Lord’s seam­less robe. The historically worthless character of the life discredits this story, and the ivory plaque of Byzantine origin which is appealed to as a representation of SS. Silvester and Agrecius in a chariot bringing the casket of relics to Trier is more probably to be explained as referring to another quite different translation of relics to Constantinople under the Emperor Leo I (457—474). St Silvester is also stated to have conceded to Trier in the person of Agrecius a primacy over all the bishops of Gaul and Germany. Setting aside these fictions, the only facts known to us regarding St Agrecius are that he assisted as bishop of Trier at the Council of Aries in 314, and that he was succeeded in the same see by St Maximinus.

See Acta Sanctorum, January 13 V. Sauerland, Trierer Geschichtsquellen des xi Jahrhunderts (1889), pp. 55—212 S. Beissel, Geschichte der Trierer Kirchen (1887) vol. i, pp. 71 seq. E. Winheller, Die Lebensheschreibungen der vorkarol. Bischöfe von Trier (1935), pp. 121—145 and DHG., vol. i, C. 1014. For the plaque, see Kraus, Geschichte der Christlichen Kunst, vol. i, p. 520, and the references there given in note 4. Kraus claims G. B. de Rossi as supporting his interpretation of the plaque. By Kraus this ivory carving is said to be a work of the fifth century A. Maskell, Ivories, p. 419, dates it seventh to ninth Century. Both are agreed that the work is Byzantine.
400 St. Viventius Samaritan hermit ordination departed Palestine to Europe.
He was later closely associated with St. Hilary of Poitiers in his attacks on the Arian heretics.
5th v. St. Elian ap Erbin known only through local Welsh liturgical calendars.
He was revered in Wales immediately following his death.
5th v. St.  Erbin 5th century Saint of the Comish and Devonshire regions England.
He is also listed as Ervan, Ernie, Erbyn, or Hermes. Churches in Cornwall are dedicated to Erbin.
530  St. Remigius or Remi, Bishop of Rheims extraordinary gift of miracles
Sancti Remígii, Epíscopi Rheménsis et Confessóris, qui Idibus Januárii obdormívit in Dómino, sed hac die, ob Translatiónem córporis ejus, potíssimum cólitur.
    St. Remigius, bishop of Rheims and confessor, who fell asleep in the Lord on the 13th of January, but is commemorated on this day because of the translation of his body.
530 ST REMIGHIS, OR REMI, BISHOP OF RHEIMS
REMIGIUS, the great apostle of the Franks, was illustrious for his learning, sanctity and miracles, which in his episcopacy of seventy and more years rendered his name famous in the Church. His father and his mother were both descended from Gaulish families, and lived at Laon. The boy made great progress in learning, and in the opinion of St Sidonius Apollinaris, who was acquainted with him in the earlier part of his life, he became the most eloquent person in that age.

When only twenty-two, too young to be a priest, much less a bishop, he was chosen in 459 to fill the vacant see of Rheims. But he was ordained and consecrated in spite of his youth, and amply made up for lack of experience by his fervour and energy. Sidonius, who had considerable practice in the use of words of commendation, was at no loss to find terms to express his admiration of the charity and purity with which this bishop offered at the altar a fragrant incense to God, and of the zeal with which he subdued the wildest hearts and brought them under the yoke of virtue. Sidonius had a manuscript of his sermons from a man at Clermont (“ I do not know how he got hold of it. Like a good citizen he gave it to me, instead of selling it ”), and wrote to tell Remigius how much he admired them: the delicacy and beauty of thought and expression were so smooth that it might be compared to ice or crystal upon which a nail runs without meeting the least unevenness. With this equipment of eloquence (of which unfortunately there is no specimen extant for us to judge its quality for ourselves) allied to the yet more valuable quality of personal holiness, St Remigius set out to spread Christianity among the Franks.

Clots, king of all northern Gaul, was himself yet a pagan, though not unfriendly to the Church. He had married St Clotildis, daughter of the Christian king of the Burgundians, Chilperic, and she made repeated attempts to convert her hus­band. He agreed to the baptism of their first-born, but when the child shortly after died he harshly reproached Clotildis, and said, If he had been consecrated in the name of my gods, he had not died; but having been baptized in the name of yours, he could not live”. The queen afterwards had another son, whom she had baptized, and he also fell sick. The king said in great anger, “It could not be otherwise. He will die as his brother did through having been baptized in the name of your Christ.” This child recovered, but it required a more striking manifestation of the might of the Christian God to convert the rough Clovis. It came apparently in 496, when the Alemanni crossed the Rhine and the Franks marched out to drive them back. One account says that St Clotildis had said to him in taking leave, My lord, to be victorious invoke the God of the Christians. If you call on Him with confidence, nothing can resist you”; and that the wary Clovis had promised that he would be a Christian if he were victorious. The battle was going badly against him when the king, either reminded of these words or moved by desperation, shouted to the heavens, “0 Christ, whom Clotildis invokes as son of the living God, I implore thy help! I have called upon my gods, and they have no power. I therefore call on thee. I believe in thee ! Deliver me from my enemies and I will be baptized in thy name.” The Franks rallied and turned the tide of battle; the Alemanni were overcome.

It is said that Clovis, during his return from this expedition, passed by Toul, and there took with him St Vedast, that he might be instructed by him in the faith during his journey. But Queen St Clotildis was not trusting to any enthusiasm of victory, and sent for St Remigius, telling him to touch the heart of the king while he was well disposed. When Clovis saw her he cried out, “Clovis has vanquished the Alemanni and you have triumphed over Clovis. What you have so much at heart is done.”
The queen answered, “To the God of hosts is the glory of both these triumphs due”. Clovis suggested that perhaps the people would not be willing to forsake their gods, but said he would speak to them according to the bishop’s instructions. He assembled the chiefs and warriors, but they prevented his speaking, and cried out, “We abjure mortal gods, and are ready to follow the immortal God whom Remigius preaches”. St Remigius and St Vedast therefore instructed and prepared them for baptism.

To strike the senses of barbarous people and impress their minds, Queen Clotildis took care that the streets from the palace to the church should be adorned with hangings, and that the church and baptistery should be lighted with a great number of candles and scented with incense. Catechumens marched in procession, carrying crosses, and singing the litany; St Remigius conducted the king by the hand, followed by the queen and the people. At the font the bishop is said to have addressed Clovis in words that are memorable, if not actually pronounced: “Humble yourself, Sicambrian! Worship what you have burned, and burn what you have worshipped!” Words which may be emphatically addressed to every penitent, to express the change of heart and conduct that is required of him.

St Remigius afterwards baptized the king’s two sisters and three thousand men of his army, as well as women and children, with the help of the other bishops and priests present. Hincmar of Rheims, who wrote a Life of St Remigius in the ninth century, is the first to mention a legend that at the baptism of Clovis the chrism for the anointing was found to be missing, whereupon St Remigius prayed and a dove appeared from the heavens, bearing in its beak an ampulla of chrism. A phial of oil, fabled to be the same, was preserved at the abbey of Saint-Remi and used in the consecration of the kings of France until Charles X in 1825. It was broken up at the Revolution, but a piece of La Sainte Ampoule and its contents were saved and are kept in Rheims Cathedral. St Remigius is also supposed to have conferred on Clovis the power of touching for the “king’s evil” (scrofula), which was exercised by the kings of France at their coronation, again up to Charles X. This power was confirmed by the relics of St Marculf, who died about 538.

Under the protection of Clovis, St Remigius spread the gospel of Christ among the Franks, in which work God endowed him with an extraordinary gift of miracles, if we may trust his biographers on this point.
The bishops who were assembled in a conference that was held at Lyons against the Arians in his time declared they were stirred to exert their zeal in defence of the Catholic faith by the example of Remigius, “who”, say they, “has everywhere destroyed the altars of the idols by a multitude of miracles and signs”. He did his best to promote orthodoxy in Arian Burgundy, and at a synod in 517 converted an Arian bishop who came to it to argue with him. But the actions of St Remigius did not always meet with the approval of his brother bishops. Sometime after the death of Clovis the bishops of Paris, Sens and Auxerre wrote to him concerning a priest called Claudius, whom he had ordained at the request of the king. They blamed Remigius for ordaining a man whom they thought to be fit only for degradation, hinted that he had been bribed to do it, and accused him of condoning the financial malpractices of Claudius. St Remigius thought these bishops were full of spite and told them so, but his reply was a model of patience and charity. To their sneer at his great age he answered, “ Rather should you’ rejoice lovingly with me, who am neither accused before you nor suing for mercy at your hands”. Very different was his tone towards a bishop who had exercised jurisdiction outside his diocese. “ If your Holiness was ignorant of the canons it was ill done of you to transgress the diocesan limits without learning them...Be careful lest in meddling with the rights of others you lose your own.”

St Remigius, whom St Gregory of Tours refers to as “a man of great learning, fond of rhetorical studies,
and equal in his holiness to St Silvester”, died about the year 530.

Although the enthusiastic letter in which Sidonius Apollinaris (who has, not unfairly, been described as an “inveterate panegyrist ”) commends the discourses of St Remigius is authentic, most of the sources from which we derive our knowledge of the saint are, to say the least, unsatisfactory. The short biography attributed to Venantius Fortunatus is not his, but of later date, and the Vita Remigii, writtea by Hincmar of Rheims three centuries after his death, is full of marvels and open to grave suspicion. We have therefore to depend for our facts upon the scanty references in St Gregory of Tours (who declares that he had before him a Life of St Remigius) and to supplement these by a phrase or two in letters of St Avitus of Vienne, St Nicetius of Trier, etc., together with three or four letters written by Remigius himself. The question in particular of the date, place and occasion of the baptism of Clovis has given rise to protracted discussion in which such scholars as B. Krusch, W. Levison, L. Levillain, A. Hauck, G. Kurth, and A. Poncelet have all taken part. A detailed summary of the controversy, with bibliographical references will be found, under “Clovis” in DAC., vol. iii, cc. 2038—2052. It can safely be affirmed that no conclusive evidence has yet upset the traditional account given above, so far, at least, as regards the substantial fact that Clovis in 496, or soon after, after a victory over the Alemanni, was baptized at Rheims by St Remigius. As for more general matters, the principal texts, including the Liber His­toriae, have been edited by B. Krusch; see BHL., nn. 7150—7173. Consult also 0. Kurth, Clovis (1901), especially vol. ii, pp. 262—265 and cf. A. Hauck, Kirchengesehichte Deutsch­lands, vol. i (1904), pp. 119, 548, 217, 595—599. There are popular but uncritical lives by Haudecceur, Avenay, Carlier and others. For “touching” see Les rois thaumaturges (1924), by M. Bloch; and for the ampulla, F. Oppenheimer, The Legend of the Sainte Ampoule (1953).

The great apostle of the Franks, and was illustrious for his learning, sanctity and miracles, which in his episcopacy of seventy and more years, rendered his name famous in the church. As a boy he made great progress in learning, and in the opinion of St. Sidonius Apollinaris, who was acquainted with him in the earlier part of his life, he became the most eloquent person in that age. When only twenty-two, too young to be a priest, much less a bishop, he was chosen in 459 to fill the vacant See of Rheims. But he was ordained and consecrated in spite of his youth, and amply made up for lack of experience by his fervor and energy.

Under the protection of King Clovis, who was baptized by Remigius, St. Remigius spread the gospel of Christ among the Franks, in which work God endowed him with an extraordinary gift of miracles. The bishops who were assembled in a conference that was held at Lyons against the Arians in his time, declared they were stirred to exert their zeal in defense of the Catholic Faith by the example of Remigius, "who", say they, "has everywhere destroyed the altars of the idols by a multitude of miracles and signs." St. Remigius, whom St. Gregory of Tours refers to as "a man of great learning, fond of rhetorical studies, and equal in his holiness to St. Silvester", died about the year 530.
Remigius (Rémy, Remi) of Reims B (RM) + Born at Cerny near Laon, France, c. 437; died at Rheims on January 13, 530.

The name St. Rémy is intimately connected with that of King Clovis of the Franks, the blood thirsty general and collector of vases. Rémy was the son of Count Emilius of Laon and Saint Celina, daughter of Principius, bishop of Soissons. Even as a child Rémy was devoted to books and God. These two loves developed the future saint into a famous preacher. Saint Sidonius Apollinaris, who knew him, testified to his virtue and eloquence as a preacher.

So great was his renown that, in 459, when he was only 22 and still a layman, he was elected bishop of Rheims. Hincmar, testifying that Rémy "was forced into being bishop rather than elected," adds to our impression of a virtuous man the added quality of modesty. Other sources note that the saint was refined, tall (over seven feet(!) in height), with an austere forehead, an aquiline nose, fair hair, a solemn walk, and stately bearing.

After his ordination and consecration, he reigned for 74 years--all the time devoting himself to the evangelization of the Franks. It was said that "by his signs and miracles, Rémy brought low the heathen altars everywhere." Foregoing the alternative episcopal path, Rémy chose the way of self-sacrifice. He became a model for his clergy and was indefatigable in his good works.

At some point between 481 and 486, Rémy wrote to the pagan King Clovis: "May the voice of justice be heard from your mouth...Respect your bishops and seek their advice...Be the protector of your subjects, the support of the afflicted, the comfort of widows, the father of orphans and the master of all, that they might learn to love you and fear you...Let your court fe open to all and let no one leave with the grief of not being heard...Divert yourself with young people, but if you wish truly to reign transact important matters with those who are older..."

Clovis must have respected Rémy's advice even if he did not follow it: During his march on Chalons and Troyes, Clovis bypassed Rheims, Rémy's see. It is possible, though, that only his wife's civilizing influence prevented him from burning Rheims.  Clovis married the radiant and beautiful Christian, Saint Clotildis, by proxy at Chalons-sur- Saone, while she was still living in Lyons under the tutelage of Saint Blandine. It was not a peaceful union. Clovis, an ambitious autocrat, allowed his rage to lead to ill-planned actions. The young, pious Clotildis showed him how much wiser it was to struggle with this wild beast than to give way to his emotions. At first Clovis resisted being tamed by his wife.

In 496, Clovis, supposedly in response to a suggestion from his wife, invoked the Christian God when the invading Alemanni were on the verge of defeating his forces, whereupon the tide of battle turned and Clovis was victorious at Tolbiac. St. Rémy, aided by Saint Vedast, instructed him and his chieftains in Christianity. At the Easter Vigil (or Christmas Day) in 496, Rémy baptized Clovis, his two sisters, and 3,000 of his subjects. (Most seem to agree on the year, but not the day or place.)
Though he never took part in any of the councils held during his life, Rémy was a zealous proponent of orthodoxy, opposed Arianism, and converted an Arian bishop at a synod of Arian bishops in 517. He was censured by a group of bishops for ordaining one Claudius, whom they felt was unworthy of the priesthood, but St. Rémy was generally held in great veneration for his holiness, learning, and miracles. He is said to have healed a blind man. Another time, like Jesus, he was confronted with a host who ran out of wine at a dinner party. Rémy went down to the cellar, prayed, and at once wine began to spread over the floor!

Rémy's last act was to draw up a will in which he distributed all his lands and wealth and ordered that "generous alms be given the poor, that liberty be given to the serfs on his domain," and concluded by asking God to bless the family of the first Christian king.   Because he was the most influential prelate of Gaul and is considered the apostle of the Franks, Rémy has been the subject of many tales. Rémy's notoriety sometimes difficult to distinguish the reliable from the untrustworthy in his biographies (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

In art, St. Remigius is generally portrayed as a bishop carrying holy oils, though he may have other representations. At times he may be shown (1) as a dove brings him the chrism to anoint Clovis; (2) with Clovis kneeling before him; (3) preaching before Clovis and his queen; (4) welcoming another saint led by an angel from prison; (5) exorcising; or (6) contemplating the veil of Saint Veronica (Roeder).
6th v. St. Elian Perhaps a Breton missionary.
he was related to Ismael and labored in the missions of Cornwall England.
603 St. Kentigern Mungo {"dear one"} First bishop of Strathclyde Britons.
By tradition, he was the son of a British princess. His nickname, Mungo, means "dear one" or "darling." He was raised by St. Serf and be. came a hermit near Glasgow, Scotland. Driven into exile after being consecrated a bishop circa 540, Kentigern went to St. David in Wales. There he possibly founded St. Asaph Monastery at Llanelwy. In 553, he returned to Scotland to continue his labors. With St. Theneva, he is patron of Glasgow. He is also venerated as the Apostle of Northwestern England and Southwestern Scotland.
631 St. Enogatus Bishop of Aleth Brittany France.
 He was the fifth successor of St. Malo.
852 St. Gumesindus priest Spanish martyr with Servus Dei a monk.
 Córdubæ, in Hispánia, sanctórum Mártyrum Gumesíndi Presbyteri, et Servidéi Mónachi.
       At Cordova, the holy martyrs Gumesind, priest, and Servideus, monk.
Gumesindus was a priest, and Servus Dei a monk. They suffered under Abd al Rahman at Cordoba, Spain.
927 Berno of Cluny first abbot of the renowned monastery of Cluny OSB, Abbot (AC)

927 ST BERNO, ABBOT OF CLUNY
CONSIDERING the immense influence exercised by Cluny in the development of the monasticism, and indeed of the whole religious life, of western Europe from the tenth to the twelfth centuries, we know strangely little of the personality of its first abbot. Berno seems to have been a man of good family and some wealth. He was himself the founder of the abbey of Gigny, in which he became abbot, having already been the reforming superior of Baume-les-Messieurs, and finally he was pitched upon by Duke William of Aquitaine to rule the monastery which he planned. The site chosen by St Berno was at Cluny, not far from Mâcon in the centre of France. The abbey of Cluny was immediately subject to the Holy See, and in the foundations subsequently made the principle of centralization became dominant; but in Berno’s day there was no machinery for the central control of the houses with whose reform he was entrusted. Berno ruled from 910 to 927, and perhaps the highest tribute to his personal worth was the devotion always paid to him by St Odo, who had joined him as a novice at Baume and who, after Berno’s death in 927, was to succeed him at Cluny as abbot, perhaps the most famous and energetic of all its rulers.
See Acta Sanctorum, January 13 B. Sackur, Die Cluniacenser, vol. i, pp. 36 seq; Berlière in Revue Benedictine, vol. ix, p. 498 and P. Schmitz, Histoire de l’ordre de St Benoît, vol. i (1942), pp. 130-132.

Saint Berno of Cluny or Berno of Baume (c. 850 – 13 January 927) was first abbot of Cluny from its foundation in 910 until he resigned in 925. He was subject only to the pope and began the tradition of the Cluniac reforms which his successors brought to fruition across Europe.
Berno was first a monk at St. Martin's Abbey, Autun, and was sent to Baume Abbey in about 886 to reform it. In 890, he founded the monastery of Gigny on his own estates, and others at Bourg-Dieu and Massay. In 910, William I of Aquitaine, founder of Cluny, nominated him abbot of the new foundation. Berno placed the monastery under the Benedictine rule (founded by Benedict of Nursia and reformed by Benedict of Aniane).
He resigned as abbot in 925, his abbeys being divided between his relative Vido and his disciple Odo of Cluny.
Born in Burgundy, France; the first abbot of the renowned monastery of Cluny, and, thus, had enormous influence throughout western Christendom. Unfortunately, little is known of him. Some stories lead us to believe he was a man of noble birth and of financial means and that he was assisted by Duke William of Aquitaine in building Cluny, which he planned.
He ruled the abbey from 910 until he resigned in favor of Saint Odo in 926.
He began his monastic life as a monk of Saint Martin's in Autun, then was the abbot who restored Baume-les-Messieurs, where he gave the habit to Saint Odo in 909. Next, Berno founder and became the abbot of Gigny, Bourg-Dieu, Massay, and finally Cluny in 910.
Neither sacred nor secular history has done justice in recording the great work that Saint Berno did for the Church and civilization prior to his death in 927 (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

1127 BD GODFREY OF KAPPENBERG belongs to the category of those youthful saints who spent the few years of their life on earth in making preparation for Heaven.

GODFREY, who died at the age of thirty, belongs to the category of those youthful saints who spent the few years of their life on earth in making preparation for Heaven. He was count of Kappenberg and lord of a great Westphalian estate in the diocese of Munster. He was married to a young wife of a family as distin­guished as his own. Coming, however, under the influence of St Norbert, the founder of the Premonstratensian canons, he determined to surrender his castle of Kappenberg to be converted into a monastery of that order; and he followed this up by persuading his wife and brother to renounce the world like himself and to become religious under St Norbert’s direction. His purpose encountered the most violent opposition from his father-in-law, who even threatened to take his life. Godfrey, however, persisted in making over all his possessions to the Premonstratensians. He built a convent near Kappenberg, where his wife and two of his own sisters took the veil; he also founded hospitals and other charitable institutions, and himself became a canonical novice, performing the most menial duties and washing the feet of the patients and the pilgrims to whom his hospital gave shelter. Though he had received minor orders, he did not live long enough to reach the priesthood. On January 13, 1127 he died in great joy of spirit, declaring that not for all the world would he wish his life to be prolonged. His feast is kept in the Premonstratensian Order on January 16.

See the Acta Sanctorum for January 13, where two Latin lives are printed; also Kirkfleet’ History of St Norbert (1916), pp. 140—151; Spilbeeck, Le B. Godefroid (1892); BHL.’ n. 533.

1228 BD JUTTA OF HUY, Widow an extraordinary power of reading the thoughts of others, and apparently a knowledge of distant events; she also displayed the greatest charity in directing and helping the many souls who came to consult her in her anchorage.

JUTTA (Juetta) was one of the mystics who seem to have been influenced by that remarkable ascetic revival in the Low Countries which preceded by a few years the preaching of St Dominic and St Francis in southern Europe.
She was born of a well-to-do family at Huy, near Liége, in 1228. While still only a child she was forced by her father, very much against her inclination, to marry. After five years of wedded life, and after bearing her husband three children, she was left a widow at the age of eighteen. Then, after an interval, during which her good looks, to her great distress, attracted a number of suitors who pestered her with their attentions, she devoted herself for ten years to nursing in the lazar-house; but even this life did not seem to her sufficiently austere, and she wished to exchange the role of Martha for that of Mary. She accordingly had herself walled up in a room close beside her lepers, and lived there as an anchoress from 1182 until her death, January 13, 1228.
Her mystical experiences, which are set down in some detail in a contemporary Latin biography, are of great interest. By her prayers she converted her father and one of her two surviving sons, who had taken to evil courses; the other had joined the Cistercians and became abbot of Orval. She had, as we find in the case of so many saintly mystics, an extraordinary power of reading the thoughts of others, and apparently a knowledge of distant events; she also displayed the greatest charity in directing and helping the many souls who came to consult her in her anchorage.

See the life by Hugh of Floreffe, a Premonstratensian, printed in the Acta Sanctorum for January 13.
1228 Bl. Yvette  not canonized, but considered a saint extraordinary charisms.
Blessed Yvette (Jutta of Huy), Widow. Endowed with extraordinary charisms, Yvette was a product of the development of mysticism in the Low Countries in the thirteenth century. In this she joined a select number of young women Christians such as Juliana of Cornillion, Eve of St. Martin, Isabel of Huy, Mary of Oingnies, Ida of Leau, Ida of Nivelles, Ida of Loviano, Christiana of St.-Trend, Lutgard of Tongres, and Margaret of Ypres.

She was born of a wealthy family of Huy near Liege in 1158 and when very young was married off by her parents. Five years and three children later, she was a widow at the youthful age of eighteen. There was no dearth of suitors, drawn by her uncommom beauty, but Yvette would have none of them. She dedicated herself for eleven years to caring for lepers out of surpassing love for God.

For the last thirty-six years of her life, the holy woman lived as an anchoress and had many mystical experiences. Her prayers and miracles made her famous. She succeeded in bringing her father and one of her two remaining children back to the Faith and solicitously aided the countless people who flocked to consult her in her hermitage. She died on January 13, 1228.
1497 Blessed Veronica of Binasco (b. 1445) known as a great contemplative who also gave loving care to sick sisters in her community and ministered to the people of Milan. She had the gifts of prophecy, discernment and miracles.
 Medioláni, in cœnóbio sanctæ Marthæ, Beátæ Verónicæ de Binásco Vírginis, ex Ordine sancti Augustíni.
      At Milan, in the monastery of St. Martha, blessed Veronica of Binasco, virgin, of the Order of St. Augustine.

Although she never learned to read and write, she was known and respected by the secular and ecclesiastical leaders of her day. Several times Christ gave to St. Martha, blessed Veronica of Binasco, virgin, of the Order of St. Augustine in prayer important messages which she carried to influential persons such as the Duke of Milan and Pope Alexander VI.
Born Giovanna Negroni in Binasco, Milan, Italy in 1445, she was raised in a peasant family. When she was 22 years old, she joined the monastery of Saint Martha in Milan. She took the religious name Veronica, reflecting her devotion to the Passion of Christ.

1497 BD VERONICA OF BINASCO, VIRGIN
ALL states of life furnish abundant means for attaining holiness, and it is only owing to our sloth and tepidity that we neglect to make use of them. Bd Veronica could boast of no worldly advantages either of birth or fortune. Her parents maintained their family by hard work in a village near Milan, and her father never sold a horse, or anything else that he dealt in, without being more careful to acquaint the purchaser with all that was faulty in it than to recommend its good qualities. His consequent poverty prevented his giving his daughter any schooling, so that she never even learned to read; but his own and his wife’s example and simple instructions filled her heart with love of God, and the holy mysteries of religion engrossed her entirely. She was, notwithstanding, a good worker, and so obedient, humble and submissive that she seemed to have no will of her own. When she was weeding, reaping or at any other labour in the fields she strove to work at a distance from her companions, to entertain herself the more freely with her heavenly thoughts. The rest admired her love of solitude, and oncoming to her, often found her countenance bathed in tears, which they sometimes perceived to flow in great abundance, though they did not know the source to be devotion, so carefully did Veronica conceal what passed between her and God.

Veronica conceived a great desire to become a nun in the poor and austere convent of St Martha, of the Order of St Augustine, in Milan. To qualify herself for this she sat up at night to learn to read and write. One day, being in great trouble about her little progress, the Mother of God bade her banish that anxiety, for it was enough if she knew three letters The first, purity of the affections, by setting her whole heart on God; the second, never to murmur or grow impatient at the sins or misbehaviour of others, but to bear them with patience, and humbly to pray for them; the third, to set apart some time every day to meditate on the passion of Christ. After three years preparation, Veronica was admitted to the religious habit in St Martha’s, where her life was no other than a living copy of her rule, which consisted in the practice of evangelical perfection reduced to certain holy exercises. Every moment of her life she studied to accomplish it in the minutest detail, and was no less exact in obeying any indication of the will of a superior.

She for three years suffered from a lingering illness, but she would never be exempted from any part of her work,  or make use of the least indulgence. Though she had leave, her answer always was, “I must work whilst I can, whilst I have time”. It was her delight to help and serve everyone and her silence was a sign of her recollection and continual prayer, of which her extraordinary gift of tears was the outward manifestation. Her biographer declares that after she had been praying long in any place the floor looked as if a jug of water had been upset there. When she was in ecstasy they sometimes held a dish beneath her face and the tears that flowed into it, so it is stated, amounted to nearly a quart (!!).

She always spoke of her own sinful life, as she called it, though, indeed, it was most innocent, with feelings of intense compunction. Veronica was favoured by God with many extraordinary visions and consolations. A detailed account is preserved of the principal incidents of our Lord’s life as they were revealed to her in her ecstasies. By her moving exhortations she softened and converted several obdurate sinners. She died at the hour which she had foretold, in the year 1497, at the age of fifty-two, and her sanctity was confirmed by miracles. Pope Leo X in 1517 permitted her to be honoured in her monastery in the same manner as if she had been beatified according to the usual forms, and the name of Bd Veronica of Binasco is inserted on this day in the Roman Martyrology, an unusual distinction in the case of a servant of God who has not been formally canonized.

See the life by Father Isidore de Isolanis, printed in the Acta Sanctorum, for January 13. This contains a relatively full account of Bd Veronica’s revelations, revelations which, as Father Bollandus warns his readers, must be read with caution, as they include many extravagant statements. Leo X’s bull may be read in the same place. Cf. also P. Moiraghi, La B. Veronica da Binasco (1897).

Her spiritual life was intense. She was particularly devoted to the Eucharist and to the Suffering and Death of Jesus. She experienced physical mistreatment from the devil, but found strength in prayer, remaining at peace and overcoming difficulties through the power of Christ. She cheerfully helped others when help was needed. In spite of her growing reputation for holiness and wisdom, Veronica remained humble.

Veronica died January 13, 1497. So numerous were her admirers who came to pay their respects, her burial was delayed for nearly a week. It is said that many sick persons who touched her body were restored to health. Her remains are preserved at the parish church in Binasco.
Veronica became accustomed to nearly constant apparitions and religious ecstasies. She saw scenes from the life of Christ, yet these never interrupted her work. She joined an Augustinian lay order at the convent of Saint Martha in Milan at the age of 22. This community was very poor; Veronica's job was to beg in the streets of the city for food. After three years into her vocation as a nun she became racked with secret bodily pains, but was notably patient and obedient to her superiors. She received a vision of Christ in 1494, and was given a message for Pope Alexander VI, and traveled to Rome to deliver it. After a six-month illness, Veronica died on the date she had predicted, 13 January 1497.

Veronica is remembered in the Augustinian Order for her obedience and desire for work. Butler records a remark she made to her sister nuns: "I must work while I can, while I have time." Miracles were attributed to her, and in a 1517 bulla, Pope Leo X permitted her veneration in her monastery as though she had been beatified according to the usual form. Veneration was extended to the entire Church by Pope Clement X in 1672, and in 1749 her name was inserted into the Roman Martyrology for 13 January by Pope Benedict XIV, although her name appears in Augustinian records of the same year for 28 January.


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 233

I will bless Our Lady at all times: and her praise shall never fail in my mouth.

Magnify her with me: all ye who are nourished with the milk and honey of her refreshment.

In dangers and doubts invoke her: and in necessities you will find sweet help and refreshment.

Take example from her conversation: and be zealous to imitate her charity and humility.

Because thou wast most humble, O Lady: thou hast induced the Uncreated Word to take flesh from thee.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

For thy spirit is kind: thy grace fills the whole world.

Thunder, ye heavens, from above, and give praise to her: glorify her, ye earth, with all the dwellers therein.

 Rejoice, ye Heavens, and be glad, O Earth: because Mary will console her servants and will have mercy on her poor.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning and will always be.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea. 
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences. 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves. O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven:  only saints are allowed into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints html  Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
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The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him” For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness
1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion. 2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.  4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour, 6.  Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.
7.  Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena that is nine days of devotion. 10. Try to begin & end every activity with a Hail Mary
My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian. 
In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides.  Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The “Peregrinatio Silviæ” (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.
Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.
Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.
After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims.
Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen); to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life.  But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.
801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions.  Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq.  She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186).  Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186).  She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching.  As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director.  She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222).  A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid.  The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind.  She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca:  "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God.  She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker.  Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219).  During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?'  I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them.  I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me?  Is it not God Who wills it?  When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will?  It is not  well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic.  It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187).  She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world.  A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill.  Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?"  (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold.  She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him.  And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance.  She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did.  For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself.  The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other.  When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from.  "From that other world," she said.  "And where are you going?" she was asked.  "To that other world," she replied (219).  She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end.  Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love.  In this quest, logic and reason were powerless.  Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition.  Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved.  Through this communion, she could discover His will for her.  Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul."  [224]
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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament
Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; “A very Holy Man of God.”
Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
  Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN
America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World
August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation
by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908
James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932
James M. Reardon Publication  History of the Basilica of Saint Mary 1955 {update}

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and Indulgences  Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.
The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

Today we have a similar spiritual battle in progress—a battle between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death. If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the United States, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actions that they are enemies of God—total collapse, economic, social, and national. The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise of a nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man. Life begins at conception. This is an unalterable formal teaching of the Catholic Church. If you do not accept this you are a heretic in plain English. A single abortion is homicide. The more than 48,000,000 abortions since Roe v. Wade in the United States constitute genocide by definition. The group singled out for death—unwanted, unborn children.

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.
As we watch the spectacle of the world seeming to self-destruct before our eyes, we can’t help but be saddened and even frightened by so much evil run rampant. Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, North Korea—It is all a disaster of epic proportions displayed in living color on our television screens.  These are not ordinary times and this is not business as usual. We are at a crossroads in human history and the time for Catholics and all Christians to act is now. All evil can ultimately be traced to its origin, which is moral evil. All of the political action, peace talks, international peacekeeping forces, etc. will avail nothing if the underlying sickness is not addressed. This is sin. One person at a time hearts and minds must be moved from evil to good, from lies to truth, from violence to peace.
Islam, an Arabic word that has often been defined as “to make peace,” seems like a living contradiction today. Islam is a religion of peace.  As we celebrate the birthday of Our Lady, I am proposing that each one of us pray the Rosary for peace. Prayer is what must precede all other activity if that activity is to have any chance of success. Pray for peace, pray the Rosary every day without fail.  There is a great love for Mary among Muslim people. It is not a coincidence that a little village named Fatima is where God chose to have His Mother appear in the twentieth century. Our Lady’s name appears no less than thirty times in the Koran. No other woman’s name is mentioned, not even that of Mohammed’s daughter, Fatima. In the Koran Our Lady is described as “Virgin, ever Virgin.”

Archbishop Fulton Sheen prophetically spoke of the resurgence of Islam in our day. He said it would be through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Islam would be converted. We must pray for this to happen quickly if we are to avert a horrible time of suffering for this poor, sinful world. Turn to our Mother in this time of great peril. Pray the Rosary every day. Then, and only then will there be peace, when the hearts and minds of men are changed from the inside.
Talk is weak. Prayer is strong. Pray!  God bless you, Father John Corapi

Father Corapi's Biography

Father John Corapi is what has commonly been called a late vocation. In other words, he came to the priesthood other than a young man. He was 44 years old when he was ordained. From small town boy to the Vietnam era US Army, from successful businessman in Las Vegas and Hollywood to drug addicted and homeless, to religious life and ordination to the priesthood by Pope John Paul II, to a life as a preacher of the Gospel who has reached millions with the simple message that God's Name is Mercy!

Father Corapi's academic credentials are quite extensive. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University in the seventies. Then as an older man returned to the university classrooms in preparation for his life as a priest and preacher. He received all of his academic credentials for the Church with honors: a Masters degree in Sacred Scripture from Holy Apostles Seminary and Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctorate degrees in dogmatic theology from the University of Navarre in Spain.
Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. “Our battle is not against human forces,” St. Paul asserts, “but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...” (Ephesians 6:12). 
The “War to end all wars” is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, “With the Moon Under Her Feet,” is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam. Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by him.

About Father John Corapi.
Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .
The pillars of father's preaching are basically:
Love for and a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary 
Leading a vibrant and loving relationship with Jesus Christ
Great love and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist from Holy Mass to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
An uncompromising love for and obedience to the Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


Records on life of Father Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, presented at Vatican
Jul 23, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The cause for canonization of Servant of God Edward Flanagan, the priest who founded Nebraska's Boys Town community for orphans and other boys, advanced Monday with the presentation of a summary of records on his life.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen to be beatified
Jul 6, 2019 - 04:00 am .- Pope Francis approved the miracle attributed to Archbishop Fulton Sheen Friday, making possible the American television catechist's beatification.

Brooklyn diocese advances sainthood cause of local priest
Jun 25, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The Bishop of Brooklyn accepted last week the findings of a nine-year diocesan investigation into the life of Monsignor Bernard John Quinn, known for fighting bigotry and serving the African American population, as part of his cause for canonization.

Fr. Augustus Tolton, former African American slave, advances toward sainthood
Jun 12, 2019 - 05:03 am .- Fr. Augustus Tolton advanced along the path to sainthood Wednesday, making the runaway slave-turned-priest one step closer to being the first black American saint.

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.
 
Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

Seven 20th-century Romanian bishops declared martyrs
Mar 19, 2019 - 12:01 pm .- Pope Francis declared Tuesday the martyrdom of seven Greek-Catholic bishops killed by the communist regime in Romania in the mid-20th century.

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
 
Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”
 
Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Algerian martyrs to be beatified in December
Sep 14, 2018 - 06:01 pm .- The Algerian bishops' conference has announced that the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in the country between 1994 and 1996, will be held Dec. 8.

Now a cardinal, Giovanni Angelo Becciu heads to congregation for saints' causes
Jun 28, 2018 - 11:41 am .- Newly-minted Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu will resign from his post as substitute of the Secretariat of State tomorrow, in anticipation of his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints later this summer.

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
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Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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Jul 23, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The cause for canonization of Servant of God Edward Flanagan, the priest who founded Nebraska's Boys Town community for orphans and other boys, advanced Monday with the presentation of a summary of records on his life.

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Jun 25, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The Bishop of Brooklyn accepted last week the findings of a nine-year diocesan investigation into the life of Monsignor Bernard John Quinn, known for fighting bigotry and serving the African American population, as part of his cause for canonization.

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Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

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Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
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Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
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8 Martyrs Move Closer to Sainthood 8 July, 2016
Posted by ZENIT Staff on 8 July, 2016

The angel appears to Saint Monica
This morning, Pope Francis received Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato. During the audience, he authorized the promulgation of decrees concerning the following causes:

***
MIRACLES:
Miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Luis Antonio Rosa Ormières, priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Guardian Angel; born July 4, 1809 and died on Jan. 16, 1890
MARTYRDOM:
Servants of God Antonio Arribas Hortigüela and 6 Companions, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; killed in hatred of the Faith, Sept. 29, 1936
Servant of God Josef Mayr-Nusser, a layman; killed in hatred of the Faith, Feb. 24, 1945
HEROIC VIRTUE:

Servant of God Alfonse Gallegos of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Titular Bishop of Sasabe, auxiliary of Sacramento; born Feb. 20, 1931 and died Oct. 6, 1991
Servant of God Rafael Sánchez García, diocesan priest; born June 14, 1911 and died on Aug. 8, 1973
Servant of God Andrés García Acosta, professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor; born Jan. 10, 1800 and died Jan. 14, 1853
Servant of God Joseph Marchetti, professed priest of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles; born Oct. 3, 1869 and died Dec. 14, 1896
Servant of God Giacomo Viale, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, pastor of Bordighera; born Feb. 28, 1830 and died April 16, 1912
Servant of God Maria Pia of the Cross (née Maddalena Notari), foundress of the Congregation of Crucified Sisters Adorers of the Eucharist; born Dec. 2, 1847 and died on July 1, 1919
Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

On the List Are Lay Founder of a Hospital and Eastern Catholic Religious
VATICAN CITY, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Today, the Vatican announced that during the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on Sunday, November 23, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonization of the following six blesseds, who include a lay founder of a hospital for the poor, founders of religious orders, and two members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See:
-Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803-1888), an Italian bishop who founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts
-Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), a Syro-Malabar priest in India who founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
-Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885), an Italian Franciscan priest who founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth
-Nicola Saggio (Nicola da Longobardi, 1650-1709), an Italian oblate of the Order of Minims
-Euphrasia Eluvathingal (1877-1952), an Indian Carmelite of the Syro-Malabar Church
-Amato Ronconi (1238-1304), an Italian, Third Order Franciscan who founded a hospital for poor pilgrims
CAUSES OF SAINTS July 2015.
Pope Recognizes Heroic Virtues of Ukrainian Archbishop
Recognition Brings Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky Closer to Beatification
By Junno Arocho Esteves Rome, July 17, 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father met this morning with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The Pope also recognized the heroic virtues of several religious/lay men and women from Italy, Spain, France & Mexico.
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky is considered to be one of the most influential 20th century figures in the history of the Ukrainian Church.
Enthroned as Metropolitan of Lviv in 1901, Archbishop Sheptytsky was arrested shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914 by the Russians. After his imprisonment in several prisons in Russia and the Ukraine, the Archbishop was released in 1918.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic prelate was also an ardent supporter of the Jewish community in Ukraine, going so far as to learn Hebrew to better communicate with them. He also was a vocal protestor against atrocities committed by the Nazis, evidenced in his pastoral letter, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." He was also known to harbor thousands of Jews in his residence and in Greek Catholic monasteries.
Following his death in 1944, his cause for canonization was opened in 1958.
* * *
The Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees regarding the heroic virtues of:
- Servant of God Andrey Sheptytsky, O.S.B.M., major archbishop of Leopolis of the Ukrainians, metropolitan of Halyc (1865-1944);
- Servant of God Giuseppe Carraro, Bishop of Verona, Italy (1899-1980);
- Servant of God Agustin Ramirez Barba, Mexican diocesan priest and founder of the Servants of the Lord of Mercy (1881-1967);
- Servant of God Simpliciano della Nativita (ne Aniello Francesco Saverio Maresca), Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts (1827-1898);
- Servant of God Maria del Refugio Aguilar y Torres del Cancino, Mexican founder of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1866-1937);
- Servant of God Marie-Charlotte Dupouy Bordes (Marie-Teresa), French professed religious of the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1873-1953);
- Servant of God Elisa Miceli, Italian founder of the Rural Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Heart (1904-1976);
- Servant of God Isabel Mendez Herrero (Isabel of Mary Immaculate), Spanish professed nun of the Servants of St. Joseph (1924-1953)
October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

MARTYRDOM
- Servant of God Valentin Palencia Marquina, Spanish diocesan priest, killed in hatred of the faith in Suances, Spain in 1937;

HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Giovanni Folci, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Opera Divin Prigioniero (1890-1963);
- Servant of God Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish diocesan priest (1921-1987);
- Servant of God Jose Rivera Ramirez, Spanish diocesan priest (1925-1991);
- Servant of God Juan Manuel Martín del Campo, Mexican diocesan priest (1917-1996);
- Servant of God Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito, Italian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1838-1917);
- Servant of God Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey (nee Ersilia Penelope), Italian professed nun of the Cistercian Order (1836-1913);
- Servant of God Hanna Chrzanowska, Polish layperson, Oblate of the Ursulines of St. Benedict (1902-1973).
March 06 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES

– Blessed Manuel González García, bishop of Palencia, Spain, founder of the Eucharistic Missionaries of Nazareth (1877-1940);
– Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity (née Elisabeth Catez), French professed religious of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (1880-1906);
– Venerable Servant of God Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus (né Henri Grialou), French professed priest of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, founder of the Secular Institute “Notre-Dame de Vie” (1894-1967);
– Venerable Servant of God María Antonia of St. Joseph (née María Antonio de Paz y Figueroa), Argentine founder of the Beaterio of the Spiritual Exercise of Buenos Aires (1730-1799);
HEROIC VIRTUE

– Servant of God Stefano Ferrando, Italian professed priest of the Salesians, bishop of Shillong, India, founder of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians (1895-1978);
– Servant of God Enrico Battista Stanislao Verjus, Italian professed priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, coadjutor of the apostolic vicariate of New Guinea (1860-1892);
– Servant of God Giovanni Battista Quilici, Italian diocesan priest, founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Crucified (1791-1844);
– Servant of God Bernardo Mattio, Italian diocesan priest (1845-1914);
– Servant of God Quirico Pignalberi, Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1891-1982);
– Servant of God Teodora Campostrini, Italian founder of the Minim Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Sorrows (1788-1860);
– Servant of God Bianca Piccolomini Clementini, Italian founder of the Company of St. Angela Merici di Siena (1875-1959);
– Servant of God María Nieves of the Holy Family (née María Nieves Sánchez y Fernández), Spanish professed religious of the Daughters of Mary of the Pious Schools (1900-1978).

April 26 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Here is the full list of decrees approved by the Pope:

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, 233 2023